Ambarella announces 8K-ready H3 SoC for drones and video cameras

Image processor maker Ambarella has released the H3 System-on-Chip (SoC) for high-end drones and video cameras, including those capturing 360-degree and virtual reality footage. The H3 supports 8K Ultra HD H.264/AVC video at 30 frames per second or multiple video streams with equivalent performance, for example 360-degree cameras that use dual 4K/60fps sensors.

“With the introduction of H3 we believe we provide the highest video performance and best image quality solution for high-end drones and multi-sensor video cameras,” said Fermi Wang, president and CEO of Ambarella. “H3 delivers 8Kp30 video performance to match the next generation of displays, such as 8K televisions and high resolution head-mounted displays.”

The chip comes with a multi-channel ISP for 360-degree video capture and multi-sensor drone applications. 10-bit HDR processing should help maintain smooth gradations and color information in wide gamut, high-contrast scenes. Meanwhile, Ambarella's electronic image stabilization keeps things steady, even in difficult conditions such as high winds or when panning quickly. The chipset is powered by a quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU and an integrated hardware de-warping engine supports wide-angle panoramic camera designs and fish-eye lenses. Ambarella has not provided any information as to when the H3 is likely to make its appearance in consumer products, but it's good to see that in the near future there should be a range of capture devices capable of recording content for the latest 8K displays.

8K videos played on large 8K displays provide a better viewing experience to the end user, as pixels at this resolution are indistinguishable to the human eye at any reasonable distance. The combination of 8K video capture together with Ambarella’s advanced oversampling and image stabilization also enables higher video quality 4K video recording.

“With the introduction of H3 we believe we provide the highest video performance and best image quality solution for high-end drones and multi-sensor video cameras,” said Fermi Wang, president and CEO of Ambarella. “H3 delivers 8Kp30 video performance to match the next generation of displays, such as 8K televisions and high resolution head-mounted displays.”

H3 includes a powerful multi-channel ISP for 360 degree video capture and multi-sensor drone applications. Its 10-bit HEVC High Dynamic Range (HDR) video processing handles high contrast and wide color range scenes. It also features Ambarella’s advanced Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS), capable of generating a smooth 4Kp60 video output under challenging conditions, including during high winds and with high degrees of rotation. The integration of a quad-core ARM® Cortex®-A53 CPU with floating point and NEON™ provides significant processing power for customer applications including computer vision, wireless networking, and multi-sensor stitching algorithms. The H3’s hardware de-warping engine supports wide-angle panoramic camera designs and fish-eye lenses.

Ambarella will demonstrate the new H3 SoC at a private, invitation-only event held during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, January 5 – 8, 2017.

Don't personally care about increasing video above 1080P, but would sure like to see higher dynamic range. Oh, wait, isn't that what we've been saying about stills cameras? 10bit processing is a step forward.

Perfect for the next generation of consumer 360 cameras, where 4K isn't really sharp once stretched to 360 degrees.

I wonder if this chip can be implemented in large sensor cameras since 8K resolution is 33,2mgpx, not so far from the 36mgpx sensors used in the Sony A7R, D800/D810 and Pentax K-1. Could be perfect to downsample 8k to 4k 10bit 4:2:2 with incredible detail.

Not impressive. The $40 Raspberry Pi 3 Model B also has a "quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU." So do $50 tablets. This is a low powered, low end chipset. It turns out that 360 degree, 8K 30fps video needs the processing power of a Raspberry Pi project board? Really? Really?

Well go ahead then and get a Raspberry and try to do the same. If you read carefully you would notice that it says: "The integration of a quad-core ARM® Cortex®-A53 CPU with floating point and NEON™ provides significant processing power for customer applications including computer vision, wireless networking, and multi-sensor stitching algorithms" To highlight it for you: "THE INTEGRATION..." It is not the only means of processing. It is part of the processor package. Anyway, I think you better stay with working on a Raspberry...or gardening.

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